


The King of Dreams

by rabitty



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Awakened Beings, Dimension Travel, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Erik is a Father, F/F, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Genosha, Godlike Powers, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, Hurt Charles, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Mutant Powers, Mutants, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poor Charles, Post-War, Protective Erik, Rebellion, Swordfighting, Swords & Sorcery, Threesome - F/F/M, War, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 12:34:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13167021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabitty/pseuds/rabitty
Summary: Something is changing in Genosha. Alliances with foreign nations that once were strong are weakening, unrest is breaking out into minor rebellion against the crown and a strange, charming man has risen in power with alarming speed in the royal court. Erik is aware of these changes in his kingdom but not what form they may take. Along with a small team of men, he is charged with going to the dark forests of the southern provinces to beg the aid of what he largely believes to be a myth. What he knows and what he believes is soon shown to be very different things and he finds himself changing along with Genosha and its people.





	1. One

There had always been whispers about the forest surrounding the Ridgeback Mountains. City folk ignored them and put it down to peasant superstition, but the farmers who lived near its borders spoke in hushed, fearfully respectful tones of the things which lived in the sea of trees. Ghasts and ghouls, elf beasts and darkling faeries. In the dark of night, mothers would scare their children with stories of the most powerful of those creatures: the Lady of Faces, the Storm Mother, the Midnight Beast and the Red Prince. Of all their tall tales, of all the goblins and monsters that haunted their stories, none were so numerous nor feared as the King of Dreams, at one time a fairy lord at others a demon loosed from hell who traveled through peoples’ dreams, traded in memories and wishes, and stole souls. He ruled the devils of the wood and the very trees obeyed his command.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd, hope you enjoy!

_Listen, dear child, and listen well_

_The elves and their fairy servants dwell_

_Round back the farm in the darkling wood_

_Sweet and kind be they yet never good_

_Stray not in day nor even in night dreams_

_For the Dream King, love, is not what he seems_

                        - _The Gift Giver_ , collection of Genoshan folktales

 

The village of Falstead consisted of a market, several houses, a church and the tavern they were currently sharing with several drunken farmhands. It was probably little more than a hub for the farms in the area considering how few people they had seen on their way there. The tavern was common enough for a frontier town; rough, a little dirty but cheap, much cheaper than the inns he and his men had stayed in on their journey to the border. He supposed few people would have cause enough to come to this town. The journey had taken nearly two weeks from the capital, the first week occupied by sailing south to Carrion Cove and the second riding their horses hard inland towards the mountain.

Sitting around drinking watery beer felt like a waste of precious time to Erik. This entire mission was nothing but a fool’s errand in his opinion, but a fool’s errand set by the king. He would do as instructed as quickly as possible and be with his children in just over a month. While impatient to get the mission over with he knew his men needed rest. The wear and tear of travel were new to them and they would need to be fully prepared for their upcoming trek. Most were fresh out of training and the rest were largely untested, plucked from cushy guard postings in the peaceful countryside across the Anvil.

The only ones he felt confident with placing his trust in were his two lieutenants, Howlett and Neyaphem and while he thought the reasoning behind the mission was ridiculous, the forests were home to all manner of bandits and wild creatures not to mention possible enemy agents this close to the southern border. Howlett had served in the military longer than Erik, fighting in two victorious battles against the Wakandan incursion fifteen years ago as well as a captain of the Zanian border patrol for five years. Neyaphem had been on the King’s security staff for nearly six years and, to his knowledge, stopped no less than four assassination attempts. They knew how to execute orders but more importantly they could handle themselves and their men should worse come to worst.

Sipping from his tankard of unappetizing homebrew Erik glanced over at the two men in question. Howlett had taken over a table in the far back of the tavern pressed up against the stairwell. He and a large group of soldiers and villagers were busying themselves with some kind of card game. His perpetual frown did little to intimidate the other players, what with the moldering buck head mounted above Howlett’s head, looking cross eyed down at the table. Erik had noted that while Howlett was a generally grumpy bastard he was social enough with his troops. Neyaphem, on the other hand, was polite and effective but cold. Unless giving orders or receiving them he cut himself of from the others. Currently he was sitting on the opposite side of the room from the card game, nursing his own drink with a plate of what looked to be gray, rubbery sausages. Erik grimaced. The alcohol the tavern served might be lacking but the food was truly terrible. Even field rations were preferable.

Catching his eye, Erik jerked his head in his tables direction. Neyaphem obligingly picked up his food and beer and brought it to Erik’s table.

“What is it, Commander?” he asked, face calm and blank as usual. Erik was still unable to place his strange accent. Certainly not from any province of Genosha, nor of Wakandan or Zanian origin. His coloring was strange as well: deathly pale skin, black hair and eyes like chips of ice. He was a creature of extremes.

“Sit, join me. I’m just going over the plans before we set off once more,” Erik indicated the papers spread out before him. Documents and supply lists and maps covered the uneven wood, some marked with damp circles from the bottom of his drink. He went back to studying his papers after clearing a space for Neyaphem. The sausages looked even less appetizing up close and their smell made his stomach turn.

The next several moments passed in silence between the two of them before Neyaphem made any attempt to strike up conversation. Erik could feel the man’s eyes on him like a physical touch.

“You have a question, Lieutenant” he said, going over his inventory lists, “ask it.”

The lieutenant hesitated a moment more before speaking. “Commander, what exactly is our mission?”

Erik stopped. As a member of the king’s guard, he thought Neyaphem would’ve been briefed, especially considering his inclusion in this operation. Something about Neyaphem being in the dark was odd but something to ponder over later.

He let out a sigh instead of voicing his confusion. To be honest he wasn’t exactly sure himself. The entire mission sounded like an extravagant waste of time and state resources but he was a member of the Royal Military and possessor of an honorary knighthood; he would carry out any ridiculous request asked of him by his king. “We have been charged by His Majesty to enter the forests of the Ridgeback Mountains, locate the origin of the Green River and treat with any ‘beings’ we should happen to find there.”

Erik looked up and met those ghost blue eyes. They betrayed nothing of what their owner thought. Neyaphem blinked languidly. “A strange request from such as King Shaw,” he said and picked up the map he had indicated.

“My thoughts exactly,” Erik said dryly. He made it a point to question the powers that be as little as possible, largely to save himself the resulting headache. Orders passed down from that high up were best left unquestioned and completed promptly. Erik had no desire to get wrapped up in whatever politics were surely behind this but the specifics of the orders were vague enough that Erik wondered whether or not he was really meant to go searching for fairy lords, but rather foreign ambassadors. Tensions had grown between Genosha and her closest friends of late; contact from Sevister had slackened in the past year, Imaya had formally entered peace talks with Wakanda and the Grey Isles were shutting down their embassies in Hammer Bay.

“We leave tomorrow midday after we resupply. There’s an old mill road that leads into the forest from town, from there we’ll be going through wild country,” he continued, tapping his finger on the relevant map. It had been created from the most recent information gathered by intelligence of the forest surrounding their destination, though most of it was blank.

Neyaphem nodded slowly. “We’ll have to leave the horses behind. The trees grow too close and the footing is too uneven a mile into the tree line. They’d cause more trouble than they’re worth. It would be advisable to sell them or board them here until we’ve completed the mission.”

All things Erik had already considered but he appreciated his lieutenant thinking ahead. “I’m going to sell off the horses tomorrow and buy ourselves extra supplies. With these shit maps we don’t really have a good idea about how long we’ll really be out there and boarding the horses would be too expensive.”

They continued on in silence, Neyaphem munching contemplatively on his food and Erik focused on his plans, all done to the soundtrack of Howlett’s barks of displeasure at the card table. The hour was late before Neyaphem pushed off from their table.

“I believe I will retire for the evening if you have no further use for me, Commander,” he said.

Erik waved him off and returned to plotting their route. The faery tales better not be fucking true.


End file.
